Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teach- 
er's Tenure 


BY 


ANDREW    SLOAN   DRAPER,  LL.  D. 


Commissioner  of  Education,  State  of  New  York 


SYRACUSE,  N.  Y. 

C.  W.  BARDEEN,    PUBLISHER 
1912 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

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This  address  was  delivered  November  28, 
1911,  before  the  Rural  education  section 
of  the  New  York  State  Teachers  Associa- 
tion, Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  is  reprinted  with 
the  speaker's  permission  from  copy  fur- 
nished by  him. 


The  Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teach- 
er's Tenure 


Much  has  been  said  for  many  years, 
in  our  educational  conventions,  about 
the  desirability  of  a  permanent  tenure 
of  position  for  all  of  the  teachers  in  the 
State.  It  has  seemed  to  me  a  trouble- 
some subject,  but  I  am  glad  to  say  that 
as  I  have  thought  of  it  more  carefully 
with  a  view  to  the  preparation  of  this 
paper,  some  of  the  difficulties  have  dis- 
appeared. My  conclusion  is  that  the 
State  might  very  safely,  and  probably 
with  advantage  to  its  schools,  establish 
the  principle  that  whenever  a  teacher  is 
once  employed  the  employment  shall  be 
5 


6   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

permanent,  thereby  meaning  that  the 
teacher  shall  be  entitled  to  the  position 
until  he  or  she  resigns  or  is  removed  by 
the  trustees  for  a  cause  recognized  by  the 
law.  But  this  principle  can  not  safely 
be  made  universal  in  this  State  unless  the 
right  of  removal  for  cause  is  to  be  strongly 
upheld  and  freely  exercised,  and  unless 
the  causes  for  removal  are  held  to  include 
all  things  which  are  not  consistent  with 
the  complete  and  proper  managenemt 
of  the  school  and  all  things  which  do  not 
make  for  the  vital  and  efficient  instruc- 
tion of  pupils. 

No  one  must  imagine  that  this  is  a 
mere  matter  of  protecting  teachers.  Real 
teachers  need  little  protection.  If  they 
are  abused  in  one  place,  they  ordinarily 
get  a  better  place.  Doubtless  they  do 
need  to  have  their  rights  denned  by  law 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure    7 

and  recognized  by  practice,  so  that  the 
small  number  of  contemptible  men  who 
get  upon  the  boards  of  education  may 
have  notice  and  govern  themselves  ac- 
cordingly. But  this  is  a  matter  which 
must  turn  not  more — not  even  so  much — 
upon  the  interests  of  the  teachers  as  upon 
the  good  of  the  schools.  And  it  may  as 
well  be  said  that  I  have  no  patience  what- 
ever with  teachers  who  agitate  for  their 
imaginary  rights  regardless  of  their  draw- 
backs and  misdoings  Then  our  task  is 
to  distinguish  the  just  rights  from  the 
selfish  interests  of  the  teacher,  and  to 
reconcile  the  just  rights  of  the  teacher 
with  the  best  good  of  the  schools.  Per- 
haps it  would  be  clearer  if  we  turn  it 
around  and  say  that  the  problem  is  to 
determine  what  are  the  just  rights  of  the 
teacher  on  the  basis  of  the  most  good  to 


8    Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

the  schools.  No  one  can,  with  an  honest 
face,  whether  teacher  or  not,  ask  more  or 
accept  less  than  that. 

A  protected  tenure  for  teachers  is  no 
new  thing  with  us.  We  have  43,017 
teachers  in  the  public  schools  of  the  State. 
Of  these,  25,722  are  in  cities  where  the 
tenure  is  permanent,  and  16,653  are  in 
the  union  districts  where  the  employment 
is  from  year  to  year  and  it  is  practically 
permanent  if  the  teacher  is  reasonably 
satisfactory.  So  there  are  only  10,643 
teachers  outside  of  the  cities  and  tinion 
districts  whose  employment  is  only  from 
year  to  year  and  in  the  common  thought 
of  the  district  is  wholly  subject  to  the 
election  of  trustees.  These  country 
teachers  are  protected  by  law  much  more 
than  they  were.  They  have  definite  if 
not  perpetual  terms  of  employment;  they 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  9 

can  not  be  dismissed  within  the  term 
without  cause;  they  have  the  contract  in 
writing  and  they  get  their  pay  as  often 
as  every  month. 

True,  the  Education  Law  prohibits  a 
board  in  a  union  district  from  employing 
a  teacher  for  a  longer  term  than  one  year, 
and  likewise  prohibits  a  sole  trustee  from 
employing  a  teacher  for  a  term  extending 
beyond  his  own  term  of  office.  The 
reason  for  this  is  that  these  local  boards 
and  trustees  too  often  employed  favorites 
and  entered  into  contracts  which  were 
not  for  the  good  of  the  schools.  It  must 
be  obvious  enough  that  no  law  can  be 
upheld  which  does  not  have,  for  its  first 
object,  the  good  of  the  schools;  and  it 
must  be  obvious  enough  that  the  law  has 
to  deal  with  many  school  trustees  who 
fail  utterly  or  in  very  considerable  measure 


10   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

to  intelligently  promote  the  interests  of 
the  districts  they  are  chosen  to  represent. 
But  that  does  not  shake  the  faith  of  in- 
telligent people  in  the  decentralized  sys- 
tem of  school  administration.  We  must 
never  forget  that  our  schools  are  the 
people's  schools  in  a  great  sense  that 
does  not  inhere  in  any  other  national 
system  of  education,  and  that  there  are 
the  weightiest  reasons  why  the  people 
shall  manage  them  directly  to  the  fullest 
extent  shown  by  experience  to  be  com- 
patible with  the  good  name  of  the  schools 
and  the  efficiency  of  the  teaching. 

When  a  board  is  mean  and  weak  enough 
to  sacrifice  a  good  teacher  in  order  to  ap- 
point another,  with  the  idea  that  it  will 
do  a  favor  for  a  friend  or  be  of  advantage 
to  a  political  party,  as  sometimes  happens, 
I  regret  it  for  two  distinct  reasons.  First, 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  11 

because  of  the  outrage  upon  the  teacher: 
one  who  can  do  such  a  thing  as  that 
deserves  a  dose  of  electricity — not  of 
course  such  a  dose  as  the  law  prescribes 
for  a  man  convicted  of  murder  in  the  first 
degree,  but  such  a  jolt  as  will  make  him 
wonder  why  he  was  ever  allowed  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  the  management  of 
schools.  And  second,  because  it  limits 
and  sets  back  the  faith  of  the  people,  and 
particularly  of  experts,  in  so  large  a 
measure  of  popular  and  direct  manage- 
ment of  the  schools.  But  we  need  not 
be  discouraged.  Where  there  is  one 
trustee  who  abuses  the  trust,  there  are 
nine  who  execute  it  conscientiously,  ac- 
cording to  their  lights,  and  the  thing  to 
do  is  to  turn  on  the  lights  for  the  nine, 
and  turn  on  enough  voltage  to  kill,  official- 
ly, the  one. 


12   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

But  let  us  get  into  this  a  little  more 
deeply.  The  school  organization  has 
checks  and  balances:  it  exacts  much  of 
teachers,  and  when  it  does  that  it  en- 
ters into  compensatory  obligations.  Teach- 
ers' certificates  are  earned  by  study. 
by  experience,  often  by  sacrifice:  they 
ought  to  be  worth  something.  They  are 
of  two  different  grades:  that  should  and 
does  mean  differing  values.  Those  of 
higher  grade  and  therefore  of  larger  value 
stand  for  more  study,  more  experience, 
ripened  spirit,  proved  adaptation  to  par- 
ticular and  exacting  duties,  and  complete 
devotion  to  the  teacher's  calling.  The 
interests  of  the  school  system  require  not 
only  that  no  school  shall  be  taught  except 
by  a  certificated  teacher,  that  is  by  one 
of  some  proved  capacity,  but  they  also 
require  advancing  grades  of  certificates 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  13 

representing  increasing  capacity  and  ma- 
turing adaptation  and  efficiency.  This 
scheme  of  graded  certificates  calls  for 
more  and  more  study,  sacrifice,  and  suc- 
cess. The  school  system  can  not  exact 
all  this  without  entering  into  reciprocal 
obligations.  It  must  protect  the  certifi- 
cates. It  must  make  them  of  the  value 
to  the  teacher  that  they  pretend  to  be. 
It  must  throw  the  strongest  safeguards 
about  the  certificates  that  represent  the 
most  professional  culture,  and  the  longest 
and  most  successful  service. 

This  system  of  examining  and  certificat- 
ing teachers  has  been  in  operation  in  this 
state  from  the  days  of  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company.  In  all  these  three  hun- 
dred years  it  has  been  growing  more  and 
more  elaborate  and  complete.  It  has 
made  rather  rapid  progress  in  the  last 


14   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

twenty-five  years.  It  has  in  that  time 
been  placed  upon  a  really  rational  and 
impregnable  basis.  It  is  a  just  system. 
It  is  incapable  of  special  favors  or  resent- 
ments. Its  rewards  have  to  go  to  those 
who  work  for  and  deserve  them:  it  is 
compelled  to  turn  back  the  undeserving. 
In  character,  purpose  and  attainments, 
the  teachers  give  exceptional  support  to, 
and  have  unusual  claims  upon,  the  pro- 
tection of  the  state.  The  state  exacts 
much  of  them  before  it  allows  them  to 
teach  at  all,  and  after  they  have  com- 
menced it  expects  them  to  progress  in 
culture  and  efficiency  or  leave  the  service. 
No  business  calls  for  greater  expertness, 
aptness,  and  patience,  than  that  of  in- 
structing children.  No  one  in  the  public 
service  is  more  liable  to  be  involved  in 
misunderstandings  with  the  people  and 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  15 

more  subject  to  mistreatment  by  public 
officials,  than  are  the  teachers.  As  a 
class  they  are  almost  incapable  of  de- 
fending themselves.  They  realize  that 
it  is  against  good  policy  to  be  involved  in 
controversy.  If  they  have  troubles,  they 
are  likely  to  be  with  people  who  are 
coarser  than  they  are,  and  they  would 
have  small  chance  in  a  mere  war  of  words 
or  a  mere  measuring  of  strength  with 
such.  Surely  the  state  which  is  depen- 
dent upon  and  claims  all  this  is  bound 
to  protect  as  well  as  it  can  those  who 
render  it  a  really  high  and  true  service. 
The  state  has  developed  and  it  manages 
the  system  by  which  teachers  are  certifi- 
cated. All  the  states  in  the  Union  have 
done  it,  and  New  York  far  more  completely 
than  any  other.  For  its  own  moral  life 
and  intellectual  progress  it  says  who 


16   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

may  and  who  shall  not  teach  in  the  state's 
system  of  schools.  There  is  some  pro- 
tection in  that  if  rationally  done,  and 
certainly  so  if  it  is  justly  progressive, 
because  it  does  give  merit  its  opportunity 
and  it  does  save  the  competent  and  worthy 
from  contact  and  competition  with  the 
incapable  and  the  unworthy. 

But  that  only  makes  a  mere  beginning  in 
the  process  of  protection  that  is  vital  to 
the  comfort  and  deserts  of  the  teachers. 
The  larger  part  of  the  task  is  not  under  the 
direct  management  of  the  state.  The 
menace  to  the  teacher  comes  not  through 
the  licensing  system,  but  through  the 
employment  and  the  treatment  by  em- 
ployers. That  is  in  the  hands  of  49  city 
boards  of  education,  623  union  district 
boards,  and  the  trustees  in  9942  school 
districts.  These  boards  and  trustees  are 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  17 

changing  continually.  Thousands  of  new 
men  and  women  are  chosen  every  year. 
Nearly  all  of  these  new  men  and  women 
have  absolutely  correct  intentions,  and 
most  of  them  adjust  themselves  to  the 
service  of  the  schools  in  ways  that  do 
them  credit.  But  some  seek  the  responsi- 
bility which  better  and  busier  people 
would  avoid  in  order  to  gain  some  end 
of  their  own;  a  few  are  naturally  brutal; 
some  have  favorites  to  aid;  some  like  to 
show  their  neighbors  that  they  have 
power  to  do  things  no  matter  who  suffers; 
some  try  to  make  patronage  of  the  schools 
upon  the  false  idea  that  it  will  aid  a  party ; 
and  some  would  subordinate  common 
schools  to  some  denominational  dogma 
and  to  the  supposed  advantage  of  some 
church.  All  this  bears  upon  promotions, 
as  well  as  original  employment.  Besides 


18  Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

thh,  and  whether  new  officials  come  in 
or  not,  one  teacher  in  contact  with  the 
same  families  for  a  long  time  will  gather 
their  affections  or  their  animosities  in 
proportion  to  the  length  of  service,  and 
these  will  necessarily  be  reflected  in  the 
official  acts  of  boards  and  trustees.  In 
indescribable  ways  these  things  affect 
teachers;  very  often  they  affect  teachers 
unjustly;  and  they  will  continue  to  do 
so  until  there  are  no  trustees  who  are 
capable  of  injustice  or  until  all  of  their 
doings  are  regulated  by  laws  that  are 
thoroughly  enforced. 

Now  anything  that  the  state  does  to 
regulate  the  official  conduct  of  local  school 
officials  is  a  limitation  upon  local  self- 
government.  That  is  undesirable  where 
unnecessary.  The  more  local  school  gov- 
ernment there  is  that  is  wise  and  just 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  19 

and  strong,  the  better  will  be  the  local 
schools  and  the  stronger  will  be  the  state 
system  of  schools.  It  is  not  more  a 
question  of  right  than  of  expediency. 
The  legislature  would  be  entirely  within 
its  constitutional  power  if  it  were  to  take 
the  employment  and  immediate  control 
of  teachers  wholly  away  from  local  officers, 
but  it  would  be  a  very  un-American  and 
a  very  unwise  thing  to  do.  The  best 
attainable  state  system  of  schools  will 
be  assured  when  we  discover  the  point 
of  equipoise  between  state  control  and 
local  management.  And  the  longer  the 
arm  of  that  balance  that  is  on  the  side  of 
local  independence,  the  better  it  is  for 
the  schools,  the  people,  and  the  state. 
It  is  even  better  that  local  authority  shall 
do  many  things  which  it  does  not  do  as 
well  as  the  state  might  do  them,  because 


20   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

the  only  way  that  people  can  learn  to  do 
them  and  get  in  the  habit  of  doing  them, 
is  by  doing  them.  But  every  citizen, 
every  stranger  within  our  gates,  every 
moral  and  commercial  interest  of  the 
state,  has  interests  which  are  involved 
in  the  state's  system  of  education;  and 
therefore  the  state  at  large  can  not  allow 
any  section  to  be  without  sufficient  schools 
to  open  the  door  of  opportunity  to  the 
children  of  that  section,  and  it  can  not 
allow  local  mismanagement  to  reconcile 
any  district  to  schools  that  grow  poorer 
and  weaker  rather  than  better  and  stronger. 
If  you  will  show  me  just  how  little  or 
how  much  the  state  must  do  to  stimulate 
popular  concern  about  the  schools;  what 
it  must  do  or  leave  undone  to  lead  towns 
and  districts  to  know  that  they  have  very 
poor  schools  when  their  superintendent 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  21 

and  teachers  lead  them  to  think  they  have 
the  best;  what  act  or  omission  to  act  on 
the  part  of  the  state  will  impel  the  people 
of  a  city  or  district  to  courses  which  will 
force  the  school  to  give  their  children 
better  training,  you  will  not  only  point 
out  the  exact  spot  to  which  the  state 
should  go  in  exercising  control  over  the 
local  government  of  the  schools,  but  also 
the  exact  spot  at  which  it  should  stop. 

But  we  are  not  to  be  abashed  by  im- 
practicables  who  talk  about  the  auto- 
cratic exercise  of  the  state's  power  in 
education.  It  is  the  common  educational 
opinion,  and  it  is  rapidly  coming  to  be 
the  popular  opinion  in  America,  that 
very  few  of  the  states  go  as  far  as  they 
will  have  to  go  in  stimulating  local  ini- 
tiative and  in  regulating  and  limiting 
ignorance,  conceit,  or  viciousness  in  the 


22  Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

management  of  the  schools.  Healthy 
public  opinion  is  everywhere  in  favor 
of  every  legal  authority  and  every  civic 
force,  general  or  local,  doing  everything 
possible  to  energize  education. 

And  in  practice  the  thing  works  smoothly 
enough.  Look  at  the  cities,  towns,  and 
districts  of  the  state  of  New  York.  In  the 
cities  and  best  towns  there  are  so  many  peo- 
ple, and  so  many  who  really  know  much 
about  good  schools;  there  is  so  much 
money  invested  in  the  business  of  the 
schools,  and  there  are  so  many  teachers 
whose  rights  have  to  be  fixed  and  regarded, 
that  the  whole  system  ordinarily  moves 
along  smoothly  enough.  If  there  is  a 
sane  and  efficient  superintendent,  the 
system  grows  better  and  better.  If  there 
is  a  poor  one,  a  way  comes  in  the  course 
of  time  to  get  rid  of  him.  If  a  conceited 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  23 

or  a  corrupt  board  of  education  gets  in 
control,  it  is  regulated  and  after  a  while 
removed.  The  state  exercises  control  only 
on  the  rare  occasions  when  something 
very  bad  has  developed.  Ordinarily  it 
has  little  or  nothing  to  do  in  the  com- 
munities where  the  best  educational  work 
is  being  done ;  indeed,  it  gets  support  from, 
and  it  is  glad  to  feel  the  control  of,  such 
cities  and  towns  more  than  it  supports 
or  controls  them.  Indeed,  its  only  power 
comes  from  them.  It  is  where  sentiment 
is  low,  rights  uncertain,  and  the  procedure 
unsettled;  where  there  is  little  wholesome 
local  initiative  and  no  vital  educational 
aggressiveness,  that  the  aid  and  power 
of  the  state,  that  is  the  aid  and  power  of 
the  stronger  districts,  must  go  if  the 
general  excellence  of  the  educational  sys- 
tem is  to  promote,  or  even  keep  up  with, 


24  Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

the  material  growth  and  the  political 
significance  of  the  state.  The  state  has 
to  legislate  for  general  conditions,  but 
the  law  is  made  for  and  felt  most  by  the 
conditions  that  are  the  worst.  The  laws 
are  inactive  except  in  conditions  that 
call  for  them.  They  must  be  active  when 
and  where  necessary,  Don't  be  super- 
ficial about  this  important  matter.  Think 
about  it  and  you  will  be  impressed  with 
the  fact  that  the  men  and  women  with 
whom  education  is  a  love  and  moral 
culture  a  passion  never  have  their  feelings 
outraged  by  any  menace  to  education  in 
the  growing  educational  power  and  the 
quickened  educational  activity  of  the 
Empire  state.  It  is  only  when  something 
mean  or  wrong  is  done,  by  some  misrep- 
resentative,  in  the  fair  name  of  the  state, 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  25 

that  such  men  and  women  are  heard  from 
as  they  are  bound  to  be. 

It  may  have  occurred  to  you  that  I 
have  been  wandering  from  my  theme, 
but  the  tenure  of  the  teacher  can  not  be 
well  considered  without  an  appeal  to 
general  principles  that  must  of  necessity 
be  of  state- wide  application.  The  right 
to  teach  when  employed  is  always  regulat- 
ed and  conferred  by  the  state.  In  theory 
and  pretence  it  has  always  been  so,  though 
until  recent  years  it  was  delegated  to 
local  officers  who  often  exercised  their 
powers  very  ignorantly  or  abused  them 
most  outrageously.  But  while  the  power 
to  certify  teachers  has  always  been  re- 
served to  the  state,  the  power  to  employ 
them  has  always  been  conceded  to  the 
city  or  school  district.  And  tenure  is  a 
matter  of  employment.  Of  course  all 


26   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

teachers  are  employed  by  public  officers 
and  all  the  doings  of  public  officers  are 
under  the  control  of  or  within  the  reach 
of  the  law.  How  far  should  the  state  go 
in  restricting  the  absolute  freedom  of 
boards  of  education  and  trustees  to  employ 
such  certificated  teachers,  for  such  length  of 
time,  such  pay,  and  such  other  conditions 
as  they  please?  It  has  gone  some  length 
already:  how  much  further  should  it  go? 
How  domineering  and  unjust  shall  the 
law  allow  an  employing  officer  to  be  to  a 
certificated  teacher,  when  he  has  developed 
a  penchant  for  parading  his  brief  author- 
ity or  has  conceived  a  fancy  for  another 
teacher  ? 

The  answer  is,  I  think,  that  we  must 
believe  in  the  people;  that  we  must  assume 
that  boards  of  education  and  trustees  are 
honest  and  sincere,  as  in  nearly  every 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  27 

case  they  are;  that  the  state  must  lay 
down  the  general  principles  within  which 
they  shall  confine  themselves,  and  then 
afford  them  the  free  right  to  use  their 
discretion,  within  such  confines,  and  ex- 
pect that  they  will  perform  their  duties 
like  honest  men  and  women  and  according 
to  the  rule  of  reason.  But  while  we  be- 
lieve, and  assume,  and  expect  all  this, 
we  have  experience  enough  to  know  that 
there  will  be  many  cases  in  which  our 
benevolent  assumptions  will  not  be  realized. 
The  schools  go  on  term  after  term  and  year 
after  year,  but  the  employing  officers 
change  continually.  The  vagaries  are 
multitudinous  and  the  conditions  are 
kalaidoscopic.  The  state  seems  bound 
to  protect  its  certificates,  see  that  the 
teacher  is  protected  against  vagaries  or 
something  worse,  and  that  the  schools  have 


28   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher' s  Tenure 

steadiness  and  continuity  of  procedure. 
To  that  end  it  seems  perfectly  reasonable 
to  me  that  a  certificated  teacher  when 
once  employed  shall  be  given  a  tenure 
that  shall  continue  until  the  position  is 
vacated  voluntarily  or  the  teacher  dis- 
missed for  cause. 

But  if  the  tenure  of  all  teachers  is  to 
be  permanent  except  for  just  cause,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  extend  the  accepted 
or  legal  causes  for  which  the  services  of 
teachers  may  be  properly  discontinued. 
If  you  are  to  make  the  principle  general 
that  a  teacher  once  employed  shall  be 
employed  as  long  as  he  wishes,  or  until 
just  cause  for  a  change  arises,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  leave  the  determination  of 
what  is  just  cause  to  the  discretion  of 
boards  and  trustees  acting  perhaps  in 
co-operation  with  superintendents,  until 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  29 

it  appears  that  such  boards  or  trustees 
have  been  moved  by  bias,  or  pique,  or 
had  some  interested  motive  which  was 
sufficient  to  disqualify  them  for  the  proper 
execution  of  their  very  responsible  trust. 
But  there  is  much  for  teachers  as  well 
as  trustees  to  think  of.  Any  public  em- 
ployee claiming  a  permanent  tenure  must 
maintain  an  exemplary  character,  offer 
particular  preparation,  accept  the  con- 
ditions and  discipline  incident  to  the 
employment,  and  render  a  service  that 
steadily  grows  in  value.  Very  likely  the 
teachers  do  all  of  that  more  completely 
than  any  other  class  of  public  servants. 
But  the  teaching  organization  is  not 
altogether  exempted  from  the  weaknesses 
of  human  nature.  Permanency  of  tenure 
has  some  disadvantages  as  well  as  con- 
siderable justice  in  it.  The  weaker  ones 


30    Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

take  advantage  of  it.  There  is  no  one 
here  familiar  with  the  administration  of 
schools  in  a  considerable  city  under  per- 
manent tenure,  who  does  not  know  that 
if  nothing  but  the  efficiency  of  the  teaching 
were  considered,  a  considerable  number 
of  teachers  would  have  to  be  removed  at 
once,  and  then  still  others  would  have  to 
be  removed  next  year.  A  few  will  break 
down  morally;  some  will  become  so 
slatternly  as  to  make  themselves  intoler- 
able; other  will  become  soured  at  the 
necessary  discipline  of  the  service,  or 
estranged  from  the  families  they  must 
serve;  still  others  will  stagnate  profes- 
sionally, or  actually  recede  in  teaching 
attainments. 

The  cause  of  half  of  this  will  be  with 
the  leadership,  with  the  board,  or  the 
superintendent.  The  board  may  be  un- 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  31 

substantial  or  unjust,  the  superintendent 
may  be  a  shallow  pretender  or  a  con- 
ceited martinet.  Teachers  know  better 
than  others  do  about  the  capacity  and 
the  moral  integrity  of  an  administration. 
They  can  not  stand  everything.  There 
is  not  a  large  percentage  of  them  that 
will  not  gladly  follow  a  capable  leadership, 
or  respond  to  sane,  frank,  sincere,  sympa- 
thetic criticism.  A  general  and  impera- 
tive condition  to  successful  permanent 
tenure  is  that  the  administration  and  the 
supervision  of  the  system  shall  not  be 
of  a  kind  which  contributes  to  the  causes 
which  justify  dismissal. 

But  the  system  must  progress.  If  it 
does  not,  the  causes  must  be  removed,  and 
quite  as  much  when  they  rest  with  the 
teacher  as  when  they  rest  with  the  trustee. 
Can  we  specify  the  causes  which  shall 


32  Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

justly  interrupt  the  employment  of  the 
teacher?  Unsoundness  of  moral  character 
is  of  course  sufficient.  Rebellion  against 
discipline  can  have  no  other  result.  The 
management  may  be  unjust  and  may 
justify  a  revolution,  and  if  so  there  ought 
to  be  revolt,  but  teachers  would  better 
not  think  of  it  unless  there  is  real  cause 
for  it,  or  without  being  armed  with  the 
facts  and  equipped  with  the  strength 
which  will  make  it  successful.  Finding 
a  new  place  is  sometimes  better  than 
revolt.  Disagreements  with  families  of 
the  children  in  the  school  may  justify 
forcing  a  change  in  the  teacher;  even 
though  the  change  may  not  be  justified 
on  the  ground  of  moral  right,  it  may  be 
better  for  the  school  and  even  better  for 
the  teacher.  Conduct  in  life  which,  with- 
out being  immoral,  impedes  efficiency 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher  s  Tenure  33 

or  brings  discredit  upon  the  schools,  may 
be  a  sufficient  cause  for  removal  of  the 
teacher.  In  common  schools  the  teachers 
must  regard  the  circumstances  and  opin- 
ions of  all  the  people.  Pedagogical  reasons, 
lack  of  neatness  and  of  control,  the  waning 
of  the  teaching  power,  may  amply  justify 
the  termination  of  the  employment. 

Teachers  must  keep  their  own  agreements, 
either  express  or  implied,  in  order  to  be 
in  position  to  exact  their  rights.  We 
can  not  assume  that  a  teacher  must  be 
guilty  of  something  that  should  send  him 
to  jail  before  he  may  be  required  to  cease 
teaching  in  a  particular  place  or  altogether. 
He  must  attract  good  citizens,  must  grow 
in  the  teaching  power  and  the  teaching 
spirit,  or  they  will  be  justified  in  wanting 
a  change.  All  of  the  circumstances  can 
not  be  anticipated,  nor  all  of  the  causes 


34   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

specified  here  or  in  the  law.  The  good 
of  the  schools,  the  esprit  de  corps  of  the 
system,  must  settle  the  matter. 

It  must  be  settled  by  the  responsible 
authorities  charged  with  the  management 
of  the  particular  school,  and,  if  necessary, 
it  must  in  the  last  analysis  be  determined 
by  an  authority  that  is  without  local  bias 
or  prejudice,  that  is  sympathetic  with 
teachers,  that  is  in  sympathy  with  parents 
also,  that  is  intent  upon  the  progress  of 
schools,  and  that  knows  how  to  build  up 
both  the  sure  foundations  and  the  more 
ornate  superstructure  of  a  school  system 
with  educational  power  in  it.  It  would 
doubtless  be  better  for  the  system  and 
no  more  than  just  to  the  teachers  if  all 
employment  was  for  an  indefinite  time, 
provided  dismissal  might  be  made  very 
freely  by  honest  trustees  for  any  cause 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  35 

recognized  by  the  law  or  which  would 
be  sustained  by  the  state  Department. 
But  whatever  is  done  must  be  done  in 
the  open,  at  least  so  far  as  the  teachers 
concerned  wish  to  have  it.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  everything  should  be  parad- 
ed before  the  public,  but  no  teacher  should 
be  forced  out  of  a  place  except  upon  notice, 
for  a  real  cause  which  can  be  stated  in 
writing.  Of  course  the  power  of  removal 
should  generally  be  exercised  with  some 
reference  to  the  time  of  year ;  for  immorality 
it  should  be  summary;  for  any  cause 
which  menaces  the  discipline  and  routine 
of  the  school  it  may  properly  be  speedy; 
for  any  reason  which  is  subtantial  but 
not  immediately  urgent,  it  should  be 
delayed  until  the  close  of  the  school  year. 
The  right  of  dismissal  for  cause  should 
apply  to  the  higher  officers  and  principals 


36   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

even  more  rigidly  than  to  class  teachers. 
If  for  any  cause  whatever  the  deliberate 
sentiment  of  a  community  wants  a  change 
in  the  office  of  superintendent  of  schools 
or  principal  of  the  high  school,  that  senti- 
ment ought  to  be  respected.  Of  course 
it  must  act  decently  and  without  senseless 
precipitancy.  But  no  self-respecting  man 
worthy  of  a  high  place  in  the  schools  can 
wish  to  remain  in  a  place  where  the  delibe- 
rate judgment  of  a  respectable  board 
and  the  settled  sentiment  of  the  community 
are  against  him.  Public  sentiment  is 
ordinarily  favorable  enough  to  teachers. 
Often  it  is  too  favorable.  It  is  sometimes 
so  considerate,  without  full  knowledge, 
that  demagogues  play  upon  it.  When 
it  is  adverse  it  must  be  accepted.  The 
power  of  the  people  and  of  their  representa- 
tives over  the  teaching  body  in  their 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  37 

schools,  acting  within  the  limitations  of 
the  law  and  according  to  the  moral  prin- 
ciples which  we  all  ought  to  understand, 
must  be  absolute. 

Nothing  has  been  said  about  pensions 
or  retiring  allowances  for  worn-out  teachers. 
It  is  a  subject  by  itself,  and  to  me  a  trouble- 
some one.  I  have  always  held  off  about 
this  because  of  my  inherent  opposition 
to  a  state  pension  system.  But  some- 
thing will  have  to  be  done,  not  only  in 
justice  to  teachers  who  have  worn  them- 
selves out  for  small  pay  in  the  public 
service,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  schools 
which  can  not  cast  these  worthy  teachers 
out  even  though  their  efficiency  is  over 
and  they  need  a  little  period  of  rest  on 
earth  before  the  rest  everlasting.  We 
have  been  doing  something  in  this  direc- 
tion in  the  last  year.  Much  more  will 


38   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

have  to  be  done  if  there  is  to  be  early  or 
substantial  result.  In  the  meantime,  if 
some  millionaire  wants  to  do  a  great  deal 
for  education  in  New  York,  why  does  he 
not  create  a  fund  for  the  relief  of  exhausted 
teachers  of  long  service  in  the  public 
schools,  and  therefore  for  the  uplift  of 
the  public  schools  themselves  ?  The  state 
has  opened  the  way:  why  will  not  some 
men  and  women  with  means  walk  in  it? 
Is  nothing  but  a  college  or  a  university 
worthy  the  thought  of  a  man  or  woman 
with  money? 

Then  my  conclusions,  stated  in  a  para- 
graph, are  that  the  employment  and  pro- 
motion and  compensation  and  discon- 
tinuance of  all  teachers  should  continue 
to  be  the  functions  of  officials  chosen  by 
the  people  in  the  cities  and  school  dis- 
tricts. We  must  continue  to  decentralize 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  39 

administration  to  the  fullest  extent  con- 
sistent with  efficiency  and  progress.  But 
the  educational  system  is  the  state's 
system,  and  the  state  must  regulate  it 
by  law  so  far  as  experience  shows  to  be 
necessary  for  its  good,  taking  it  in  its 
entirety.  When  once  employed  the  ser- 
vice of  all  the  teachers  might  well  con- 
tinue until  interrupted  by  death,  resigna- 
tion, or  discontinuance  by  authority  for 
cause.  There  is  no  apparent  reason  why 
one  teacher  should  go  out  and  another 
come  in  merely  because  boards  and  trustees 
change.  But  with  the  more  permanent 
tenure  the  teachers  will  have  to  show 
more  preparation,  adaptation  to  particular 
position,  and  professional  progress.  The 
causes  of  removal  and  the  procedure  will 
have  to  be  thoroughly  regulated  by  law. 

Everything  will  have  to  be  done  in  the 
open.     The  trustee  who  removes  a  teacher 


40   Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure 

through  malice  or  to  make  an  opening 
for  a  favorite,  should  be  punished  for  it. 
The  right  to  appeal  from  local  action  to 
state  authority  as  to  the  justness  of  the 
removal  will  have  to  be  well  recognized. 
There  the  quibbles  of  pettifoggers  will 
have  to  be  brushed  aside,  and  an  ultimate 
decision  made  as  to  whether  the  removal 
was  free  from  bad  motive  and  unreasonable 
official  conduct,  and  whether,  without 
injustice  to  any  legal  right  of  'the  teacher 
and  with  an  eye  only  to  the  good  of  the 
school,  it  should  be  sustained.  The  pro- 
gress of  the  school  is  the  paramount 
matter;  there  is  no  more  reason  why  the 
state  should  permit  the  school  to  be  ar- 
rested, should  permit  the  whole  system 
to  be  weakened,  in  the  interests  of  weak, 
unprogressive,  or  worn-out  teachers,  than 
why  it  should  permit  it  to  be  menaced  by 


Necessary  Basis  of  the  Teacher's  Tenure  41 

the  meanness  or  the  badness  of  boards 
and  trustees.  Teachers  who  do  not  grow 
in  professional  culture  and  teaching  spirit 
have  small  claims:  those  who  do  advance 
in  these  things  have  claims  that  are 
irresistible  and  that  are  widely  recognized. 
It  is  to  the  interest  of  the  state  to  guard 
them.  All  that  is  necessary  is  to  write 
down  the  legal  principles  that  properly 
apply  and  set  up  the  administrative 
practice  that  ought  to  prevail.  There 
is  no  great  difficulty  about  it.  The 
interests  of  teachers  who  deserve  protec- 
tion, and  the  interests  of  schools  that 
deserve  to  advance  are  altogether  con- 
sistent; and  the  complete  reconciliation 
of  these  interests  in  the  Education  Law 
is  likely  to  contribute  as  much  as  anything 
else  can  to  uphold  the  honor  and  promote 
the  progress  of  the  state. 


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